For almost three years, the Max-Well Respite Center in Pensacola has served an average of about 80 individuals each night, providing case management, housing and meals. But, now, the transitional housing program — designed, in part, to help families, couples, and veterans — is losing its building and has to close by the end of the month.
Ultimately, it came down to the facility’s ability to pay a competitive amount to rent the 17,000-square-foot space, located at the corner of Palafox and Maxwell streets.
“About a year and a half ago we went to our landlord because funding was drying up,” said Vinnie Whibbs, executive director of Re-Entry Alliance Pensacola, Inc. (REAP), which operates the Max-Well Respite Center.
“We met with them and they agreed to reduce the rate, with the stipulation that if they could find someone that could pay an increased amount or if they could sell the property, they could give us a 30-day notice, which they did, which means that our termination date is June 30, 2025.”
According to Whibbs, they’ve already notified all of the residents at the Max-Well and are in the process of helping them find suitable housing alternatives.
They’re calling on organizations such as Waterfront Rescue Mission and Bright Bridge Ministries to provide any available space.
Internal options include the 24 houses that are used for REAP’s reentry program.
“We currently operate a campground area at a place that we call Al’s House, which is over on Blount Street,” Whibbs stated. “And we will be using a portion of that property as a siting place for the Pallet homes/Pallet (modular) shelters that the City of Pensacola is buying and we’re just in the process of opening that facility up for that purpose.”
Last year, the city allocated $1.1 million to buy shelters from Pallet PBC, based in Everett, Washington.
Additionally, some of the residents currently at the Max-Well will be able to stay there once the new tenant, Overflow Health Alliance, moves in and expands some of the work they’re doing.
“Max-Well is going to be converted; it’s been leased to another non-profit organization and they will be operating in that building and facilities and they will continue to do case management services and stuff,” Whibbs said. “They will be operating probably starting in the middle of July.”
Currently, Overflow Health Alliance provides a variety of services, including temporary and transitional housing for individuals and families, medical care, meals, and job training out of a 13,000-square-foot facility on North Davis Highway.
The Max-Well Respite Center opened in 2022 and was able to operate for nearly three years with money received from various sources, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding from the City of Pensacola, and funding from Escambia County.
With some of that funding already terminated and no recurring funding sources, Whibbs suggested that resuming operations of the transitional housing program at a new, more affordable location, is likely not feasible.
“The Max-Well program is, frankly, better than a $500,000-a-year program, counting the building, the staffing, and the services that are made available,” he explained. “So if you don’t have a guaranteed source of income, you have to be careful what you’re doing.”
He adds that securing government money today is far from a given.
“With the uncertain political climate right now, we’re not certain how much funding will be available for those kinds of services.”
Even though, the Max-Well is unable to continue operations and will be closing by the end of this month, Whibbs says he’s proud of what they were able to accomplish there, just since 2022.
“Over the past years at Max-Well, we served well over 1,000 individual persons and about half of those roughly have progressed into independent living on their own, in supportive housing,” he said. “They successfully made that transition.”
Whibbs hopes such programs will continue to be funded and supported by the community because, he said, "there certainly is a need."
Preliminary results of the 2025 Point In Time (PIT) Count, conducted in February by Opening Doors Northwest Florida, showed a total of 895 homeless people in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
